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The birth of the blues
"Mephis Blues" by W.C. Handy becomes published sheet music for the first time. -
Mamie Smite
Mamie Smith records for Okeh Records. Her "Crazy Blues" becomes the first blues hit, beginning the business of "race" recording. -
Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey
Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey make their recording debuts. Becoming the first women to perform Blues songs on stage. -
Folk Blues Debuts
An american talent scout named Ralph Peer heads to the south to make the first field music recordings. Marking the recording debut of both the folk blues and what will later be called country music -
New Technology
Bell Telephone Laboratories, lead by Joseph P. Maxfield and Henry C. Harrison had developed an electrical phonograph recording system using a Bell Labs microphone connected to a vacuum tube (valve) amplifier, and feeding the amplified signal to an electromagnetic disc cutting head which Bell Laboratories had also developed. -
Blind Lemon Jefforson
Blind Lemon Jefferson is first recorded. He will become the dominant blues figure of the late 1920s and the first star of the folk blues. -
Robert Johnson
Robert Johnson begins his short recording career. He recorded 29 songs between 1936 and ‘37 for the American Record Corporation, which released eleven 78rpm records on their Vocalion label during Johnson¹s lifetime, and one after his death. -
Robert Johnson Dies
One of the greatest Blues legends of all time, Robert Johnson, died outide of Greenwood, Mississippi. He was believed to be posioned by a jealous husband. -
Electric Guitar
Eddie Durham records the first music featuring the electric guitar. It will be a key factor in transforming the sound of blues -
Les Paul creates "The Log"
The Log was the first solid-body guitar. It was built with a 4x4 piece of fencepost, with pickups made from pieces of a telephone and an Epiphone body cut in half and glued to either side. -
Muddy Waters and the Chicago Blues
McKinley Morganfield nown by his stage name Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician. He is often considered the "father of modern Chicago blues". -
Elvis
Elvis's first recording session at Sun Studio turned into an instant success after he played an Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup song. He quickly skyrocketed to fame and fortune. -
Country Blues
Samuel Charters publishes The Country Blues, fueling the blues element of the folk music revival. -
The Rolling Stones
Formed originally as a Blues band. They were greatly influenced by Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry. -
British Invasion
The first U.S. tour by the Rolling Stones marks the invasion of British blues rock bands.
